At Least 13 People Dead After Plane Bursts Into Flames Mid-Flight

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At least 13 people have been killed after a fire broke out on board a plane, causing it to make an emergency landing. 

The Sukhoi Superjet-100 was set to fly from Moscow to the northern Russian city of Murmansk, but it made the emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on Sunday evening (May 5), after a small fire broke out on board.

The flames spread, and as it came in to land, much of the rear part of the plane was on fire. The blaze then quickly spread up the entire aircraft.

Take a look at terrifying footage of the scene here:

According to Reuters, passengers escaped via the plane’s emergency slides which inflated after the hard landing, but medical workers told the TASS news agency at least 13 people had been killed in the incident, and that others remained unaccounted for.

The plane had reportedly been carrying 78 passengers. It was unclear how many crew had been on board.

The cause of the fire is not immediately known, but Russian investigators have said they had opened an investigation and were looking into whether the pilots had breached air safety rules.

A rescue team has reportedly been combing through the charred wreckage of the plane looking for survivors.

Kristian Kostov, a former Bulgarian Eurovision contestant, tweeted that he was in a plane nearby the emergency landing site and people were ‘screaming’ and ‘shaking’ at the sight of the plane engulfed in flames.

He wrote:

A lot of passengers just started screaming “oh sh*t sh*t sh*t oh no oh no f*ck nooo!!!!”….
And then we saw that there is a plane on fire right in front of us…
I don’t know what to say.

Our thoughts are with all of those involved in the horrific incident.

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Emily Brown

Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.